1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cable television systems and particularly to interactive cable television systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Real time conversational student response teaching apparatus are known such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,947,972 and 4,078,316. In addition, multiple choice student response systems are well known, such as exemplified by the systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,921,385; 3,020,360; 2,826,828; 3,623,238; 3,546,791; 3,273,260; 3,665,615; 3,245,157; 3,284,923; 3,538,621; 3,477,144; 3,708,891; 3,255,536; 2,777,901; 2,908,767; 3,774,316; 3,194,895; 3,484,950; 3,343,280; and 3,763,577, by way of example. None of these prior art systems, however, has been adapted to be employed in connection with conventional cable television in which an essentially one way system is convertible on a subscriber-by-subscriber basis into what appears to be a two way interactive network in which the television programming information to be received by the individual subscribers is individually selectable to enable the subscriber to receive either selectable multi-information television programming and/or regular television programming on the television reception channels of a conventional multichannel television receiver. Moreover, although prior art subscription cable television systems per se are known in which a plurality of unrelated television programs, under control of a computer, are transmitted over a common television channel for selection by the individual subscribers, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,814,841 and 3,757,225, no such systems are known to applicants which are one way interactive systems capable of independent subscriber selectable reception of simultaneously transmitted multi-information television programming and regular television programming over a common designated television reception channel. Such an arrangement would greatly expand the educational and entertainment capabilities and horizons of cable television systems with the prior art essentially being concerned with a severely limited quantity of users. The desire to expand the educational capabilities and horizons of mass entertainment media has greatly increased with the advent of cable television in which considerably more channels than were previously available are present. Nevertheless, even though cable television has existed for a number of years, it has not been employed, to applicant's knowledge, in an interactive conversational type teaching or interactive entertainment system in which a mass audience of people, in addition to their regular programming, can receive individually controllable instantaneous real time effective interaction with the questions being asked, and/or individually tailored messages or entertainment. These disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention.